Hirosaki
Day 8 of Japan 2017 trip
Mount Iwaki overlooking Hirosaki
I woke up a bit late and decided to go check out the Hirosaki castle. The castle grounds were covered in ice and snow and I believe in other months there's an entry fee to enter the inner castle grounds but it's free in winter. Probably a good thing as there were barely any people around except for joggers and a small amount of tourists.
Hirosaki Castle
The castle itself is definitely compact and I wasn't sure if it was a recreation considering that Yamagata's and Kakunodate's castles no longer existed either. In the distance the you can see the snowcapped Mount Iwaki
Hirosaki Castle
Hirosaki Castle Grounds
Hirosaki Castle Gate
Walking around the perimeter of the castle grounds, I stopped by the old Hirosaki library and Old Foreign Teacher's living quarters. They had a miniature display of buildings of Hirosaki near the library as well.
Mini building
Old Foreign Teacher's living quarters
For lunch I found a Tsukumen place called “Hirosaki Dipping Show” and had some more Tsukumen to eat. It wasn't as good as Fuungi's in Tokyo but was still satisfying. The staff member came around with a lucky dip box that I guess was part of Christmas promotions and I fished my hand in it. The prize was some free topping (chashu, egg, etc), with the catch being it was only redeemable next year… I gave it to my closest neighbour next to me.
Hirosaki Dipping Show
Tsukumen Lunch
The Hunt for Apple Pies
I decided to rest a bit in my accommodation and headed off to a cafe called Noel to try their apple pie. Hirosaki is famous for apples and I wanted to try one as soon I could. Noel unfortunately was sold out, so I wanted to try my luck perhaps near the station precinct.
Noel Apple Pie
Hirosaki Station
Whilst at the station I had a look around and tried some of the apple related products. After asking at the tourist information about where I could get some Igamenchi this time and some apple pie, I was given this A4 pamplet with over 40 different places in the Hirosaki area of where you can get apple pie and what each one looks like. I really wished I had gotten this map earlier as I had a lot of catching up to do with apple pies.
Apple Pie Scavenger Map
Map Details
My first stop was the Hotel opposite the station. The cafe on the ground floor offered an award winning open apple pie. The pastry quality was clearly very high and the taste matched. I did however crave the more traditional closed apple pie instead of an open one so I headed off to my next destination.
Open Faced Pie
Being winter time, darkness had already started to descend in. I found my 2nd apple pie in the basement of a shopping centre. Whilst visually appealing, it was definitely not up to scratch with the first one. The pastry was terrible and I felt like such a sucker paying 420 yen for it.
Subpar Pie
Igamenchi
Igamenchi is meant to be a local specialty of the area made from fried squid and vegetables. I was unsuccessful in finding a place that served it yesterday so I was determined to find one today seeing as it was my last evening in Hirosaki. Seeing as the sky was now dark and it was getting colder I thought I should get going to try and find some Igamenchi at some Izakayas. I went to one of the ones recommended by the tourist office but they refused me entry due to them being “full”, disregarding a bunch of people walking past me. I was also refused entry at another one near the station despite the fact that it didn't look full at all. I don't think these establishments wanted to bother with accommodating a foreigner I guess.
Dinner
I eventually found one that let me in. Not much of note in this establishment, the staff was very friendly and I did manage to order an igamenchi. Sadly it wasn't as good as I had hoped. It tasted like a meat ball and probably wasn't the best example of what Igamenchi was. I polished off my meal with some local apple cider and the izakaya had an oversized beer mug that they made me clink glasses with.
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